RCCS Annual ReviewA selection from the Portuguese journal Revista Crítica

de Ciências Sociais

6 | 2014

Issue no. 6

Environmental Colonialism, Criminalization andResistance: Puerto Rican Mobilizations forEnvironmental Justice in the 21st Century

José M. Atiles-Osoria

Translator: Karen Bennett

Electronic version

URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/524DOI: 10.4000/rccsar.524ISSN: 1647-3175

Publisher

Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra

Electronic reference

José M. Atiles-Osoria, « Environmental Colonialism, Criminalization and Resistance: Puerto RicanMobilizations for Environmental Justice in the 21st Century », RCCS Annual Review [Online], 6 | 2014,Online since 01 October 2014, connection on 30 April 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/524 ; DOI : 10.4000/rccsar.524

© CES

RCCS Annual Review, 6, October 2014: 3-21

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José M. Atiles-Osoria Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal Environmental Colonialism, Criminalization and Resistance: Puerto Rican Mobilizations for

Environmental Justice in the 21st

Century*

Struggles for environmental justice have become a fundamental part of Puerto Rican sociopolitical and anticolonial mobilizations since the mid-twentieth century. In this context, and paying particular attention to the criminalization processes used by the United States in the post 9/11 era, the article develops three lines of analysis: 1) a reflection on environmental colonialism in the context of Puerto Rico; 2) an analysis of the mechanisms of criminalization and repression developed by the governments of the US and Puerto Rico; 3) a review of the Puerto Rican socio-environmental conflicts between 1999 and 2012. The discussion of these points shows the close connection between Puerto Rican environmental and anti-colonial movements, as well as the mechanisms of repression and criminalization deployed against them.

Keywords: anti-colonialism; environmental colonialism; environmental justice; Puerto Rico; repression.

Since the 1990s, movements for environmental justice have gradually acquired a central role

in the Puerto Rican sociopolitical imagination. This was the result of various processes to

raise awareness and mobilize support for environmental protection that took place between

the 1960s and 2012. Following the pioneering work of Concepción (1988, 1995), Baver

(2006) and Valdés (2006) on the environmental struggles in Puerto Rico (PR), the concept of

environmental justice is understood in this article as a category that groups together various

claims and movements campaigning on issues such as environmental protection, the

stoppage of contaminating practices and environmental decontamination, amongst other

demands. These authors agree that, since the 1960s, a discourse on environmental justice

has developed in PR, which a e ead i te s of ights to a safe e i o e t that is

free from contamination and guarantees the wellbeing of communities. As will be shown in

this article, this ight has been vindicated using various strategies, though the most

significant have involved legal movements and forms of social protest. The governments of

the United States of America (US) and PR have generally been considered responsible for

guaranteeing those rights. Thus, I consider that, within a colonial context such as that of PR,

which experiences environmental colonialism, the o ept of e i o e tal justi e

operates as an explanatory category for a range of different struggles by socioenvironmental

* Article published in RCCS 100 (May 2013).

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movements. However, it should be pointed out that the concept is used somewhat

theoretically, and that the socioenvironmental movements may employ other categories to

describe their mobilizations. That is to say, most of the movements do not consider

themselves to be movements for environmental justice, but rather define their struggles in

terms of more concrete demands (e.g., environmental struggles, struggles against

contamination, neighbourhood platforms to confront a particular problem, etc.). Thus, the

o ept of e i o e tal justi e ill e used i this a ti le as a theo eti al atego that

aims to group together these diverse movements and struggles.

These mobilizations are, for their part, the result of broader and more complex processes

of struggle for the decolonization of PR. This can be appreciated when it is recognised that,

as Mattei and Nader (2008) point out, one of the primary manifestations of colonialism is

the exploitation of the te ito s natural and mineral resources, the extraction of its wealth

and plundering of its material, cultural and environmental resources. Thus, the struggles for

the decolonization of PR and the movements for environmental justice cannot be

understood independently, but have to be studied within a common historical framework.

In the wake of these mobilizations for environmental justice and for the decolonization of

PR, the governments of the US and PR have deployed various mechanisms of repression and

criminalization. Throughout the history of the environmental conflicts in PR, different

repressive strategies have been used. Between the 1960s and 1990, repressive mechanisms

were initially deployed to halt the advance of the anticolonial movements. Then, after 11

September 2001 (9/11) and the passing of the Patriot Act, the repressive measures and laws

deployed have been specifically designed to deter and delegitimize Puerto Rican

socioenvironmental movements.

This article focuses on socioenvironmental movements and criminalization processes

used in PR between 1999 and 2012. It is divided into three sections: the first section will

contextualize the colonial case of PR and discuss the concept of environmental colonialism

and its sociopolitical and legal implications; the second section will show the various

repression and criminalization mechanisms used by the governments of the US and PR

against socioenvironmental movements; and finally, the third section will focus on some

Puerto Rican socioenvironmental movements that appeared between 1999 and 2012. Thus,

the article aims to describe, firstly, the relationship between the anticolonial and

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environmental struggles; and secondly, the development of the repression and

criminalization of socioenvironmental protest in the colonial context of PR.

1. Environmental colonialism in Puerto Rico

PR is a Caribbean archipelago consisting of the Isla Grande, the island municipalities of

Vieques and Culebra and a series of smaller islands. In environmental terms, PR enjoys great

biodiversity, important nature and mineral reserves, reserves of drinking water and fertile

soils. This fact, combined with its strategic geopolitical position in the Caribbean Sea, made it

a key interest for colonisers, leading to over 500 years of colonial domination. For the last

114 years (1898 to 2012), it has been under US control, and this has had significant effects

on the economic, environmental, sociopolitical and legal levels.

In economic terms, the country has been unable to develop its own economic agenda, as

it has traditionally depended upon the interests of the colonizing agent. This dependency is

manifest in the various economic models that have been imposed over the last hundred

years, none of which have ever managed to achieve full yield. Examples are the radical

economic transformations that occurred in the first decades of the 20th

century, when the

country passed from what was predominantly subsistence farming to a sugar cane

monoculture. Then, from 1940, the industrialization by invitation model, better known as

Operation Bootstrap (Baver, 1993; Berman, 1996; Dietz, 1989), was implemented,

establishing, amongst others, textile industries and oil refineries. The 1970s saw a new

economic transition with the promotion of the pharmaceutical and electronic industries.

Then, in the s, the isla d s e o o i odel e a e p edo i a tl post-industrial,

based on consumption and service industries, which led to the underdevelopment of

agriculture and industry, and/or the abandonment of all the previous economic models,

except the highly contaminating pharmaceutical and electronic industries.

In accordance with its economic (under)development, the US initiated a process of

militarization of PR from 1940. This process, which extended throughout the Caribbean

(García & Vega, 2002), involved the expropriation of numerous PR territories to be used for

military bases, military exercises and the storage of armaments (Barreto, 2002; McCaffrey,

2006). Militarization led to a surge in various sociopolitical movements for the devolution of

the expropriated lands and for the halting of military practices, particularly in the case of the

island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra (Baver, 2006; Berman, 2002).

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The sociopolitical and legal effects of American colonionialism have been diverse. In the

legal-politi al sphe e, P‘ s olo ial condition a e u de stood i te s of a state of

e eptio (Atiles-Osoria, 2012), i.e., the constitution of a space of legal indetermination

where certain constitutional rights are applied, but whose citizens do not enjoy all of them.

One paradigmatic example is citizenship: even though American citizenship was extended to

Puerto Ricans in 1917,1 as long as they lived in PR, they were not accorded rights such as the

right to vote in the election for the representatives of Congress and the president of the US.

The non-recognition of these rights is based on P‘ s status under the Territorial Clause2 of

the US Constitution, and on two central arguments developed from the so-called the Insular

Cases3: that which establishes that P‘ belongs to the US, but is not part of it, thereby

setting up a relationship of ownership and/or a mercantile view of the colonial domination

of PR; and, secondly, the premise that Puerto Ricans are foreign citizens in the domestic

sense. Both arguments have led to the administration of this territory through the denial of

constitutional rights and guarantees, grounded in various legal loopholes (ibidem).

This legal and political indeterminacy has led to the imposition of particular political

categories on this territory, and also to a high level of social conflict. The paradigmatic

example was the constitution of the Comonwealth of PR or the Estado Libre Asociado de PR

(ELA)4 in 1952. This legal loophole led to the persistence of its colonial status with the

consent of much of the country, the international community and, in particular, the United

Nations Organization (UN). As for social conflict, this is reflected in the sociopolitical

polarization between the pro-annexation and pro-status quo or pro-colonial sectors, and

those that support independence.

Given P‘ s colonial status, there have been various actors and movements that have

fought fo the ou t s independence and self-determination. These organizations have

mobilized in various ways: through struggles in the international sphere, such as via the UN

and its Committee on Decolonization; through electoral mobilizations; the activation of legal

1 This was possible under the Jones Law of 2 March 1917 (Jones-Shafroth Act, Pub.L. 64-368, 39 Stat. 951).

2 Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the US Constitution.

3 The Insular Cases are a series of US Supreme Court decisions issued between 1902 and 1922, which

established jurisprudence on the status of PR. They decided aspects related to the citizenship of the Puerto Rican people, the national or international character of legal-political matters in PR, and subjects relating to trade and education. In short, all involve the constitution of legal-normative referents for the positioning of the US over PR and the Puerto Ricans. 4 Although the literal translation is the Associated Free State of PR, the official name is t he Commonwealth of

Puerto Rico.

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processes in local and US courts; sociopolitical mobilizations on the margin of colonial

legality; and the armed struggle for independence. Although these have brought some

sociopolitical and legal advances, they have not managed to put an end to American

colonialism.

Environmental colonialism

The exploitation of natural resources and the extraction of wealth (in mineral, human,

energy and biological terms), the destruction of the environment and related

epistemologies, have traditionally been considered as primary manifestations of colonialism.

This fundamental dimension, which Mattei and Nader (2008) call plunder, is evident in

different historical processes of colonization and domination used by the global North

around the world. A historical survey of the various waves of colonialism shows that, despite

changes in the strategies used, one of the primary goals is the plunder and exploitation of

the resources of the colonized territories.

The history of colonialism shows that the exploitation of resources is grounded in a

biopolitical understanding of nature. That is to say, the geopolitical nature of colonialism

only becomes central as the territory yields extractable natural, human and mineral

resources. Thus, the geopolitical function of colonialism is subordinated to the bios and the

possibilities of enrichment from the destruction of life.

In PR, the plunder and exploitation of resources as a result of colonial-capitalist practices

and environmental policies imposed by the governments of the US and PR fit perfectly into

the phenomenon described above. In this sense, Concepción (1988: 128) points out that the

concept of environmental colonialism

[…] refers to the exploitation of renewable natural resources: the release of toxic waste from manufacturing activities into the air, water and earth. […] [E]nvironmental colonialism was the consequence of the technology that had been located on the island, which consumed a great deal of energy and generated high levels of contamination. The problem is that those renewable resources that have been damaged and overused are essential not only for production activities but also for all forms of life. Therefore, what is at stake is biological survival as well as economic survival. […] This policy may be considered a new form of subordination and oppression.

Valdés (2006) extends the definition of environmental colonialism in PR to include the

various processes and means through which the governments of the US and PR, together

with the Puerto Rican economic elites, brought about environmental destruction as a result

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of development policies. In his historical survey, he not only highlights industrialization

processes but also shows in detail how transformations in the patterns of land/coast use and

agricultural production, along with militarism, urban expansion, the development of the

tourist industry and gentrification directly affected the environment, leading to countless

socioenvironmental mobilizations.

An important distinction should be made between the colonial practices of extraction,

described by Mattei and Nader (2008), and environmental colonialism. This differentiation is

due to the ideological and strategic character of environmental colonialism. While the

extraction of resources imposed by colonialism is grounded in imposed and violent

strategies, where the subordinate party receives nothing in exchange, environmental

colonialism functions as an ideological system of exploitation that is planned and operates

with the consent and participation of the national elites. The extraction, contamination and

destruction of the environment is legitimized through the promise of a reward; that is to say,

a system of management of natural and mineral resources is implemented for which the

economic elites of the country receive something in exchange (e.g., development,

modernization, etc.). Thus, environmental colonialism is no longer limited to the exercise of

biopower over the colonial territory, but includes a sociopolitical and legal structure which

enables the exploitation of resources with the consent of the parties concerned.

This legal-political structure of environmental colonialism finds a new support in

eoli e alis . Neoli e alis i te p ets atu al esou es as o su e p odu ts included

in the market economy (Nixon, 2011). Smith (2009: 5-6) points out that:

[…] i te sified o odifi atio , a ketizatio a d fi a ializatio of atu e is of ou se a i teg al ele e t of a u h la ge p oje t of eoli e alis . Neoli e alis s su stitutio of private market economic measurement for social calculation, and its insistence that anything of social worth must be tradable in the global market, applies precisely to the emergence of new markets in ecological commodities, mitigation banking and environmental derivatives.

Thus, we find ourselves before a new version of the so- alled so ial fu tio of atu e.

This is also a e eoli e al geog aph , he e atu al esou es ha e e o e e ologi al

commodities (Bakker, 2010). With this development of neoliberalism, environmental

colonialism is reinforced and new strategies for control and domination arise, such as

biopiracy, the mass purchase of agricultural lands, carbon (CO2) emissions trading, and other

contemporary enrichment practices based on the commodification and consumption of

nature (Nixon, 2011).

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Given this biopolitical and neoliberal dimension of environmental colonialism, it is not

surprising that anticolonial movements have been very involved in the struggle for

environmental justice in PR. The extensive tradition of anticolonial struggle has shown that

liberation in the biopolitical domain is just as important as liberation in the geopolitical

domain. Thus, it is only natural that the desire for emancipation should transcend the

geopolitical and become biopolitical and/or involve investment in physical, environmental,

epistemological, cultural and moral emancipation.

2. From criminalization to eco-terrorism

Processes of repression of social mobilizations may be designed according to two paradigms:

on the one hand, there is the use of political violence to detain, intimidate and demobilize

organizations that challenge the state s legiti a ; a d on the other, the use of law and legal

discourses as a mechanism to delegitimize those organizations.

For the purposes of this article, the former will be defined under the concept of

repression. This mechanism implies the use of violence by the state and para-state

organizations for extralegal activities such as: abductions, political assassinations and

disappea a es ; attacks with explosives on the property of militants and their

organizations; and the militarization of the public space and disproportionate use of police

force. I also include in the term repression the use of mechanisms of surveillance,

persecution and coercion that are on the margins of the law, and whose legality may be

questioned. In the case of PR, we are referring to the practice of carpeteo,5 the infiltration

of sociopolitical movements by state agents, recordings, photographing and other

manifestations of symbolic violence.

As for criminalization mechanisms, these refer to the use of the law to coopt and

delegitimize sociopolitical organizations. They include: drawing up special laws;6 using the

courts and state law to solve situations of a political nature; imposing specific imprisonment

policies for political actors; and outlawing organizations, either in terms of positive law or

5 Las Ca petas o el a peteo as a su eilla e p og amme carried out by the Intelligence Division of the

PR Police between the 1930s and 1990. It involved primarily the continuous surveillance of members of independence organizations, socialist groups and other social organizations. This operation was in keeping with the COINTELPRO [Counter Intelligence Program] established by the FBI (Bosques Pérez and Colón Morera, 1997). 6 For example, the gagging law, the Sedition Act and the criminal categories pertaining to enemy criminal law

(Atiles-Osoria, 2012).

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through legalized discourse. The latter refers to the use of official or government discourse

to establish that a particular organization is criminal, subversive and/or terrorist, even when

this has not been proved by a legal or political body – in other words, it involves the use of

delegitimation campaigns to create a common understanding of the antagonistic agent.

This last point is presented by Concepción (1995) in her analysis of the repression of the

anti-mining struggles in the 1970s. She claims that two strategies were applied in the

process: firstly, they tried to gather support for the project arguing that technologies to

control contamination existed and were available; secondly, they sought to destabilize the

opposition (Concepción, 1995: 119). As regards the intention to destabilize the opposition,

she argues that

[…] the government tried to discredit the opposition and by doing so to divert attention from the issues. Government officials and leading senators focused on the political beliefs of opponents and called them subversives, while downplaying their concerns as primarily politically motivated. An editorial of the newspaper El Mundo explained the opposition by pro-i depe de e i te ests a d o ga izatio s as a o atio alis of those ho do ot a t U“ companies on the island, rather than fair reasons . (Ibidem: 120)

As can be seen, there was as much persecution and repression of the environmental

movements as of the anticolonial movements. Likewise, the repressive measures described

by Concepción (1995) became the norm in multiple environmental conflicts in PR. These

practices also involved surveillance and the carpeteo of environmental activists, as well as

arrests and incarceration (Paralitici, 2011). One case where the use of repressive and

criminalizing practices was particularly flagrant was in the struggles against the American

naval bases at Culebra and Vieques (before 1999). With the effects of contamination, and

the insecurity and environmental damage caused by over 30 years of military training

exercises, the 1970s represented the high point in the struggle to get rid of the naval base

on the island of Culebra. In these mobilizations, antiocolonial movements, including the

Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP) and the Puerto Rico Socialist Party (PSP), played a

central role. As a result of these struggles, in 1975, the naval base stopped its military

exercises in Culebra and passed to the neighbouring island of Vieques.

In the context of the protests against the naval base at Culebra, the PIP used a tactic that

was new in PR, and which involved the fishermen and members of the community. This

consisted of incursions into the areas of the naval base reserved for exercises and

manoeuvres, and involved civil disobedience and/or peaceful disobedience. This led to the

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arrest of several members of different organizations, most of whom were sentenced to

between three and six months in prison by the US Federal Court in PR.7 The struggle against

the presence of the US Navy in Vieques also led, on 11 November 1979, to the political

assassination of the anticolonial and environmental activist Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal in a

prison at Tallahassee, while he was serving a six-month sentence for acts of civil

disobedience (Paralitici, 2011). This killing is an example of how the repressive tactics and

strategies deployed against the anticolonial movements were also used against the

socioenvironmental movements between 1960 and 1990.

Following the events of 9/11 in the US, the mechanisms of repression intensified with the

enactment of the Patriot Act. This law, designed to deal with terrorist threats,

incorporated a new element in the definition of terrorism, namely the concept of eco-

terrorism, which was included in the Patriot Act as a way of criminalizing ecotage and/or

economic sabotage – i.e., a form of resistance that involves action against inanimate objects

(Vanderheiden, 2005). This type of action, traditionally used by environmentalist

movements that advocate direct action, became popular in the 1980s, but after 9/11

became considered as acts of terrorism by the US. This transformation of ecotage into

ecoterrorism has given governments and economic interests carte blanche to act directly

against environmentalist movements in the US, including when their actions fall within the

bounds of civil disobedience and/or ought not be construed as terrorist acts.

In the context of the socioenvironmental struggles in PR, ecotage has scarcely been used.8

Instead, peaceful civil disobedience has been the most widespread tactic used by Puerto

Rican socioenvironmental movements. Hence, the government has opted to consider civil

diso edie e as e ote o is . That is to sa , i P‘, it is the o upatio of building sites

that has been considered as ecoterrorism.

3. Socioenvironmental struggles

According to Valdés (2006), there are four types of socioenvironmental organizations in PR:

1) conservationists, environmental NGOs and organizations made up predominantly of

7 This was the case of Rubén Berrios Martínez and the leaders of the PIP, who were arrested on 21 January

o the ea hes of Cule a a d se te ed to th ee o ths i p iso e t Pa aliti i, . 8 In my research I have identified only one occasion when this kind of action was carried out during the 1990s.

The case involved the sabotage of tubes and machinery destined for the construction of the North Coast super-aqueduct by the Boricua Popular Army (also known as Los Macheteros), on 31 March 1998.

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academics and other intellectuals; 2) sociopolitical-environmental NGOs, formed of

environmental, religious, political, social and worker groups; 3) environmental groups

fighting against a specific phenomenon that affects some aspect of the environment (these

groups are generally formed from strategic coalitions of social, political, religious,

environmental and conservationist groups); 4) community environmental organizations,

usually composed of grassroots groups that mobilize to protect their own communities.

Although these organizations are composed of specific sectors of society, they display a

certain level of diversity, depending on the demographic features of their communities

(Valdés, 2006: 45). The activities and struggles of these environmental organizations have

unfolded over two broad periods: the first, between the 1960s and 1990s, and the second

between 1999 and 2012. This division is based on the configuration of the environmental

movements and on the mechanisms of repression and criminalization employed by the

governments of the US and PR.

In broad terms, the first environmental struggles in PR were marked by the presence of

Puerto Rican anticolonial movements. Organizations such as the Pro-Independence

Movement (MPI), the PSP, PIP and the Pro-Independence University Federation (FUPI),

played a central role in the support and organization of environmental struggles between

1960 and 1990. These struggles can be viewed in terms of two major goals: there were those

that opposed projects designed by the governments of PR and the US, and others that

demanded access to and democratization of the use and management of resources. With

regard to the former, examples of struggles against US-proposed projects are the

movements for the preservation of the Lajas agricultural valley in the 1990s (González Cruz,

2008) and the struggles to oust the US Navy from the islands of Vieques and Culebra (from

1960 to 2003). Movements opposing PR-government projects include the anti-mining

struggles (between 1960 and 1995), mobilizations against the construction of the North

Coast super-aqueduct9 in the 1990s (ibidem), and the struggles for the development of

stricter environmental policies.

As regards the second group of mobilizations, these i lude the st uggles agai st urban

de elop e t p oje ts p oposed the olo ial elites, su h as: o e e ts opposing the

privatization of beaches, better known as Las Pla as pal' Pue lo 960 to 2012);

9 A water distribution system that runs from the north of the Island and supplies water to San Juan (capital of

PR) and its metropolitan area.

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movements for the conservation and preservation of woods and wetlands; movements for

the decontamination of zones affected by industrial and military activities; and movements

against urban speculation and gentrification (Baver, 2012). In these cases, we find that most

of the mobilizations have been carried out by community organizations that receive the

support of sociopolitical and anticolonial groups. It is probably in these mobilizations that we

find the greatest use of the law by socioenvironmental movements as well as by the so-

alled de elop e talists, or investors. It is interesting to note that in these antagonistic

spaces, the law and legal discourses become a sphere for both the resistance to and the

advancement of economic interests.

From the 1990s, the socioenvironmental mobilizations underwent a process of

transformation. In this context, the environmental movements took the form of social

mobilizations that broadly influenced Puerto Rican sociopolitical struggles. As we have seen

in the typology presented by Valdés (2006), one of the most important features of Puerto

Rican socioenvironmental movements is their capacity to combine and mobilize various

social, political, legal and community sectors. This capacity for action was exemplified most

intensely from the second wave of protests against the naval base at Vieques (1999-2003), in

which anticolonial movements, civil society and socioenvironmental movements played a

central role (Barreto, 2002; McCaffrey, 2002).

Peace for Vieques

On 19 April 1999, the US Navy was carrying out military manoeuvres in Vieques when a

bomb launched from one of its aeroplanes fell onto a security post on a bombing range. In

that security post were several civil employees of the naval base including David Sanes

Rodríguez, who died as a result of the impact. His death was the spark that ignited the

second wave of mobilizations against the naval base at Vieques.

These protests, which ran between April 1999 and May 2003, were symbolically one of

the most important sociopolitical periods for Puerto Ricans. This is not only because the

navy base left Vieques, but also because various levels of action came together, with

solidarity between different sociopolitical sectors of the country and the international

sphere. This convergence was due to what we call i il so iet , which in PR, unlike other

cases, refers to the joint action of anticolonial, socialist and environmental movements,

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religious groups, traditional political parties, social organizations and communities (Colón &

Rivera, 2006).

This new struggle against the naval base of Vieques symbolized the end of a strategic and

ideological transition that had begun in 1990 with the mobilizations for the protection of the

Valle de Lajas and against the naval base in Vieques (González, 2008). The new mobilizations

consisted of acts of civil disobedience carried out on the lands that were used for military

manoeuvres (as already mentioned, this tactic was used in the first period of mobilizations).

Thus, in the name of the human rights of the Vieques people, against environmental

contamination and for the devolution of the lands that belonged to the Puerto Ricans,

thousands of people joined together to put an end to the military manoeuvres. Under the

slogan Peace for Vieques, US navy out of Vieques and All PR with Vieques, on 21 February

2000, more than 100,000 people marched through the streets of San Juan demanding the

immediate removal of the naval base (Paralitici, 2011).

In the face of these protests, which were attracting growing support from the citizens and

the international community,10

the naval base and US government began a campaign of

repression against the demonstrators. On 4 May 2000, a contingent of federal agents began

breaking up the civil disobedience encampments that had been set up in the area of the

bombing range at Vieques and arresting protestors. Between 2000 and 2003, two thousand

people were arrested for civil disobedience. All were tried in the US Federal Court in PR, and

given prison sentences that extended from a few hours to various years. It is interesting to

note that although civil disobedience is considered a minor offence in the US, usually

punished with a fine or a warning, the colonial status of PR permits this type of excess

(Susler, 2002). Furthermore, many of the protestors that were arrested denounced abuse

and violation of their human and civil rights (Reverón, 2002).

Finally, when the US Navy withdrew from Vieques on the 1st

of May 2003, certain events

took place that acquired importance. Firstly, during the celebrations that followed this

victory, a group of activitists destroyed vehicles and a guard-house, resulting in the arrest of

the demonstrators and the beginning of a criminalization campaign that involved both the

law and the media; in the end, they were given sentences of three to six years in federal

prison (Paralitici, 2011). Secondly, it led to the start of what Baver (2006) has called a new

10

It should be pointed out that the UN Decolonization Committee was in favour of the immediate removal of the Vieques naval base in 2000.

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stage in the Vieques struggle, which has involved mobilizations for the cleaning,

decontamination and devolution of the lands occupied by the naval base. This is a significant

stage, since the lands were transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the

Conservation Trust without being decontaminated. Berman (2010) points out that the future

development of the island of Vieques depends largely upon the cleaning and

decontamination of the areas affected by more than 40 years of military practices. This

political-economic demand for environmental justice indicates the new scope of the struggle

and the new connections of resistance to environmental colonialism.

From Vieques to Paseo Caribe

With the positive results achieved by the presence of civil society in the struggles against the

naval base of Vieques, after 2003 the mobilizations for environmental justice took on similar

organizational models, i.e., the activation of diverse sectors across a broad front. Thus, in the

first decade of the new millennium, there were various socioenvironmental mobilizations

that opposed both environmental colonialism and the development policies implemented by

the government of PR and the economic elites.11

These included the movements opposing

the construction of the Paseo Caribe housing complex in 2007.

This project, proposed by the national economic elites and the transnational hotel

company Hilton, involved the construction of a residential building in the coastal area of

Condado in San Juan, which endangered the San Jerónimo Fort, one of the most important

historical structures of the region. It also aimed to privatize access to this historic monument

and the beaches. The opposition to this project was conducted through civil disobedience,

popular demonstrations and the incorporation of a legalized discourse of possible

alternatives to the project. The best example of this legalistic discourse was the creation of a

People s Court (on 16 November 2007) in which possible violations incurred by the

de elope s e e e aluated, p odu i g a fi al decision i hi h it as esta lished that the

11

The mobilizations included: struggles for the preservation of the forests and areas of great biodiversity (e.g. , the San Patricio Meadows, the Northeast Ecological Corridor, the Caño Tiburones and Caño Martin Peña nature reserves); protests for the protection of coastal areas; struggles for the cleaning and rehabilitation of the areas affected by military and industrial activities; and community mobilizations against the construction of radio and telephone aerials, amongst other things.

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project violated the laws of public environmental policy and zoning, amongst other

violations.12

Although there was no significant campaign of repression and criminalization as a result

of these mobilizations, the opposition to this project and the occupation of building sites by

environmental groups served as a pretext for the presentation in 2009 of a new law

designed specifically to criminalize socioenvironmental mobilizations.

The state of emergency on energy and new patterns of criminalization

From 2009, the government of PR developed a new public policy that directly affected the

environment, resulting in the emergence of new socioenvironmental protests and the

criminalization of these movements. More specifically, the new public policies on the

environment have brought two major legal-political effects: the declaration of a state of

energy emergency and the adoption of specific laws criminalizing socioenvironmental

protest.

With the commencement of the neoliberal administration of Luis Fortuño (PNP), the

thesis was put forward that PR lived in a state of energy emergency.13

The declaration of

this state of emergency was made under Executive Order OE2010-034, which established

that, as 70% of electrical energy production in PR was derived from petroleum-based fossil

fuels, which brought high levels of contamination and high production costs, it was

necessary to seek cheaper environmentally-friendly alternatives, preferably of a renewable

nature. Thus, the Energy Affairs Administration (AAE)14

was set up, and a programme was

developed to seek out alternatives to the current situation.

Up to this point, one can agree with the assu ptio s of e e g e e ge a d with the

socioenvironmental and economic problems caused by oil dependence, and therefore with

the need to find alternative sources of energy. However, the declaration of a state of

emergency has various sociopolitical and legal implications that should not be overlooked.

For one, it means that decisions regarding the country s futu e o energy, environmental,

sociopolitical and economic matters can be made unilaterally without prior consultation of

12

See the final decision at http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/eldt6383/mycustompage0436.htm. 13

The declaration of the state of energy emergency was in keeping with the state of fiscal emergency declared i . Both de la atio s e ealed the p ese t ad i ist atio s suppo t fo a autho ita ia odel of government, which does not abide by standards of democratic governance. 14

For details on this new agency, see http://www.aae.gobierno.pr/ (accessed on 5 August 2013).

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17

the citizens. It also renders invisible the possible effects of projects that directly affect the

community. This element of exceptionalism15

demarcates a new sphere of legal-political

action under the state of emergency/exception, since this has traditionally been reserved for

contexts where the rule of law is threatened by social revolt, revolution or war (Agamben,

2005). Hence, what is new in this case is that the state of emergency is applied to a problem

that does not directly threaten the colonial administrative structure.

As a result of the declaration of a state of energy emergency, the Fortuño administration

proposed various projects of great environmental impact, including: 1) the conversion of oil-

based electrical plants to natural gas; 2) the creation of a pipeline to transport natural gas

155 kms from the south to the north of the island, bringing impacts for the environment, the

groundwater, archaeology and residential areas; 3) the construction of waste incineration

plants in the north of the country; and 4) the installation of wind turbines in areas of high

agricultural production.

All these proposals provoked a series of important socioenvironmental protests. One of

the most significant was the opposition to the construction of the northern gas pipeline.

These mobilizations are an example of the way socioenvironmental struggles have brought

together various different actors and proposals. In this case, the actors included the Casa

Pueblo organization, community organizations, anticolonial movements and civil society.

The specific law that criminalizes socioenvironmental protests is Law No. 158, of 29

October 2010,16

which states that it serves the purpose of establishing the obstruction and

paralysation of building works as a new felony.17

The criminalization of socioenvironmental

protest is laid out in the following lines of this law:

Anyone who intends to temporarily or permanently obstruct any building work, whether public or private, or land work that have the permission, authorization or endorsement of the agencies concerned […], will incur a felony of the fourth degree.

15

This was established by Law No. 32 of 14 March 2011, which amended Article 12 of Law no. 76 of 5 May 2000. 16

Law No. 3, of 4 February 2011, added a new article (246-A) to Law No. 149 of 18 June 2004, amended, known as the Pue to ‘i o Pe al Code, ith the purpose of categorizing as a felony the obstruction of public services in educational and health institutions and other buildings that provide governmental services to the public. See http://www.lexjuris.com/lexlex/Leyes2011/lexl2011003.htm (accessed on 5 August 2013). 17

See the webpage: http://www.lexjuris.com/lexlex/Leyes2010/lexl2010158.htm (accessed on 5 August 2013). This a e d e t to the Pe al Code is k o popula l as the Tito Ka ak La , si e it as see as a ea tio to the protests of the well-known Puerto Rican activist a d e i o e talist Al e to de Jesús Tito Ka ak.

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18

By classifying the occupation of a public or private work as a serious felony, the type of

protest that is most effective in the struggles for environmental justice (civil disobedience) is

criminalized. However, the legislator legitimizes this criminalization measure through a

public safety argument. This is made clear in the preamble to the law, which argues that the

state s i te est is to p ote t the life a d p ope t of its itize s by preventing them from

entering buildings or facilities that are under construction, given the risk of serious injury for

anyone that is not properly trained. Obviously it is nowhere stated that the aim is to prohibit

protests against projects that openly violate environmental legislation; however, this is clear

from the classification of the following activities as felonies:

(a) Preventing the entrance or access of employees, vehicles and people, including suppliers of materials, authorized by the owner, contractor or site manager; (b) Occupying lands, machinery or spaces that form part of the building site or the land movement site; (c) The court will also impose a sentence for restitution.

I believe that, by classifying civil disobedience and socioenvironmental protest as a

serious offence, the administration aims to put an end to the contingent practices developed

by Puerto Rican environmental movements. This tactical and strategic rupture will have the

same implications as the classification of ecosabotage as ecoterrorism under the Patriot Act.

That is to say, this law delegitimizes all environmental protest actions, and makes it

impossible to take action without running the risk of being accused of a serious felony; it

also implies that Puerto Rican socioenvironmental movements have achieved such a degree

of recognition that the PR government has decided to demobilize them through the

constitution of criminalization mechanisms specific for the purpose.

The first people to be accused under the new law were a group of six protestors

belonging from the Frente Rescate Agrícola (FRA, Agricultural Rescue F o t ). They were

arrested on 15 December 2011 while carrying out acts of civil disobedience on the

agricultural lands of the southern town of Santa Isabel, that is, while they were

demonstrating in a public entrance to the farmlands where the company Pattern Energy

planned to install sixty-five 131-metre high wind turbines, disturbing at least 1455 hectares

of the Santa Isabel agricultural valley.18

At present, the accused are facing a minimum of six

months in prison.

18

Quoted f o No ul i a los p o esos legales o t a los seis a ifesta tes a estados e “a ta Isa el, by the Frente Rescate Agrícola (FRA), 03.02.2012. Available at http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2012/02/50901.php (accessed on 5 August 2013).

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19

This movement to oppose the installation of wind turbines is a fundamental part of the

struggles that are currently taking place against the neoliberal policies and state of energy

emergency declared by the Fortuño administration. There have been demonstrations

against the northern gas pipeline and the incinerator in the northern town of Barceloneta,

and others calling for the protection of the northwest ecological corridor – just some of the

protests that could be affected by this new criminalization measure. For the moment, we

know that projects such as the pipeline have been strongly questioned by the town and by

all the administrative bodies that have to authorize it.

Conclusions

This article has attempted to sketch the conflictual situation between socioenvironmental

movements, environmental colonialism and the criminalization of socioenvironmental

protest. In general terms, it has shown that the struggles for the preservation of the

environment are an essential part of anticolonial struggles, while also describing the

development of the Puerto Rican socioenvironmental movements from the moment of their

formation until they became a central force in the social and political life of the country.

Their broad trajectory not only provides evidence of a tradition of struggle and the central

role played by environmental justice in the Puerto Rican sociopolitical imaginary, but also

shows the capacity to resist repression and environmental colonialism.

For its part, environmental colonialism continues to be a key factor for identifying

contingent positionings and strategies. As I have shown, the governments of the US and PR

have conceived mechanisms of repression and criminalization as a response to every

demand made by the Puerto Rican movements. Hence, in the first period of

socioenvironmental struggle, the governments implemented the same mechanisms of

repression that had been designed and applied against the anticolonial movements. Later, in

the context of the struggles against the Vieques naval base, they put greater emphasis upon

repressing civil disobedience. Finally, in the post 9/11 era, acts of sabotage were classified as

ecoterrorism, in the case of the US, and civil disobedience and the occupation of buildings

and projects that affect the environment were classified as serious felonies in the case of PR.

These reconfigurations of the mechanisms of repression and criminalization raise a

challenge for the socioenvironmental movements, a challenge that may be expressed

through the following question: how to activate processes of socioenvironmental struggle in

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20

the post- 9/11 era? In the same way, the environmental colonialism imposed by the US with

the consensus of the government of PR presents an additional challenge: how to emancipate

oneself from all forms of power, not merely geopolitical, but also biopolitical? I consider that

civil society, the anticolonial and socioenvironmental movements have demonstrated their

ability to advance a new sociopolitical, environmental and economic agenda irrespective of

the forms of power imposed on the country. All that is missing is that they be permitted to

go forward. Thus, while there is repression, criminalization and colonialism, there will be

movements, actors and subjectivities that raise their voice against colonialism and on behalf

of environmental justice.

Translated by Karen Bennett

Revised by the author and Teresa Tavares

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